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TDM #9

➥ Arrival

Photo of a modern office building from the outside. There is a manicured lawn with several trees and bushes. To the left side of the photo, there is a waterbody with reeds around the fringes. There is a purple gradient filter over everything.
(cw: potential for severe disorientation/vertigo, claustrophobia, arachnophobia, body horror)

It happens in the blink of an eye. You may have been asleep. You may not have. You may have stepped through a door or turned a corner. You may have seen a flicker of something at the corner of your vision and turned to look. Or maybe you didn't.

It doesn't matter. What matters is that you find yourself somewhere entirely new and entirely unfamiliar. The arrival point is not always the same. (If you're lucky, it might be a canteen or an open office. If you're not, well... you aren't claustrophobic, are you? Or arachnophobic. These ducts do seem to be a bit cobwebby.) There is no one waiting for you but you don’t seem to be alone, either. Even in a janitor’s closet or the bathroom, you’ll find at least one person who seems to be just as out of place as you are.

If characters have arrived in a location devoid of NPCs, they may want to work together to figure out what is going on... or to avoid their 'kidnappers.' If you’ve arrived in the middle of the entry foyer or the gym, there may well be a few people who startle a bit at your arrival and try to approach (or discreetly leave the room... where are they going?). Will you cooperate or fight? Do you even understand what they're saying? You might need to find a translator, if you’re not immediately willing to follow a stranger.

After characters follow their new hosts (or are forcibly taken in) there will be a limited tour and the chance to settle in at the ADI-provided housing. (Do you enjoy living with strangers? Well. It's a new situation to navigate, anyway.)

➥ The Road We All Must Travel

Photo of someone in blue jeans and brown boots walking along a path in the Dogtown forest. The trees do not have foliage, the sky is blue, and there is one of the Babson boulders to the left that reads 'study.'
(cw: death, child death, semi-graphic description of injury, existential terror, memory manipulation (adding memories))

Weird things happen in Dogtown, everyone knows it. The Apocalypse Disruption Initiative (ADI) is not above taking advantage of that to test out the waters for its newest arrivals. They're not looking to send anyone to their death, though, especially not with recent events that have transpired surrounding Dogtown. An employee gives you a number to call if anything truly dangerous happens and you've been left with another person at the trailhead. Maybe they're a new arrival, as well, or a more seasoned 'veteran.' Either way, you're together for the next while and you've been asked to find and record any paranormal activity in the park. You have your phones and any other equipment you might have brought with you. Those who succeed in documenting anything peculiar will receive a $100 reward to be used as they see fit.

There is a body on the side of the path. From a distance, it's hard to tell who it might be… apart from someone who's made terrible life choices about where to take a break. You might find the body propped up against a boulder, lying in the snow, or even slumped on a bench. Approaching, though, brings into view… someone. Maybe someone you recognize vaguely. Do you know them from- Where exactly do you know them from? Or maybe it's a complete stranger, someone foreign in face and form.

The body is never the same for any groups of people who might happen upon it. One time, it's a young white man dressed in what seems to be parachute pants, a boombox fallen or resting with him. Another, it's an Hispanic person, their clothes reminiscent of something out of a western. Still others, it might be a little black girl, looking like she's cosplaying one of the original settlers for Gloucester. People of all different races, ages, genders, times, all beside the path. Some of them look to be obviously dead, their heads caved in or blood splattered across the path. Others, it's harder to tell. They might be someone who's passed out? A drunk who's wandered here from town and could need help.

The moment anyone touches them, though, the body crumbles, something made of ash that simply wipes itself away. And in its place, it leaves memory. The person who touches the body will find themselves reliving the last horrified moments of this person's life. They will know precisely how and when this person died. Every death has some component of agony or fear. No one found passed quickly or painlessly.

Everyone dies, and it is never so kind a thing as they might have hoped. Never.

➥ Prisoners of Consciousness

Photo of a woman of Asian descent banging her hands against a frosted glass pain. The woman looks distressed.
(cw: altered mental states, breathing difficulties, imprisonment, victim-blaming)

Repairs are going about as well as they can be at ADI; the building still bears the scars of last month's attack but day to day matters slump back toward the status quo now that the acute crisis has passed. For a few days it actually seems as though the press of unending needs and obligations has abated, like a massive crushing stone lifted from one's back to allow a gasp of breath, leaving workers and residents reeling in the exhausted aftermath.

It doesn't last, but when the pressure intensifies once more it takes on yet another new form. Things will seem to be back to normal when suddenly you realize that the room in which you find yourself is getting smaller–or perhaps the air has grown stale, perhaps that's why it's suddenly so hard to breathe. You're trapped in here, locked in, locked away. Windows seem to shrink and fortify into slitted openings too tight for escape; what might have been an ordinary office door is now a heavy metal thing fortified with deadbolts.

They've locked you in; they've decided that you're not to move about freely, that you're a danger to others. Are you a danger to others? You must be; you must have done something to deserve this. The question of who 'they' are is one without an answer, a nebulous sense of them, the ones who call the shots, the ones who must be looking out for everyone. They don't speak to you; there's no chance to plead your case, only this miserable, tiny cell and your own guilt over something you must have done. You hear them passing by your door at times, keys jangling, footsteps heavy, but there's no hope of aid from them.

None of it is real. The rooms don't shrink; the doors and windows don't change. To someone not caught up in the illusion, it will seem as though those caught in its grip have gone into hysterics over nothing at all, insisting that they're trapped when all they need to do is open the door.

➥ A Trick of the Dark

Black and white photo of a woman on a cobblestone street at night. She is backlit by a street lamp and appears in silhouette, her features completely obscured. She is holding something in her left hand.
(cw: monsters in the dark, altered mental states, semi-graphic description of injury)

When the crushing claustrophobia finally abates, this time seemingly for good, the shadow woman makes her first appearance. She is seen only in darkness at nighttime, silhouetted in a doorway or lurking in an underpass. Turn on the lights, and there's nothing there–it must have been a trick of the light, the mind making connections out of something seen from the corner of one's eye.

Turn off the lights, though, and there she is again.

She's patient at first, toying with her prey. Lights on, and you're safe. Lights off and the figure returns, still and staring and something you can almost convince yourself you've somehow imagined. But leave the lights on too long, play with the light switch too many times, or watch her too closely, and her patience has an end. When she finally moves, she's fast, charging across a darkened street or a darkened room, the only expression visible on her face is the inhuman light in her eyes, and there is nothing left except to run for the nearest patch of brightness in the night. Maybe you even get away–flee to the circle of sickly light under a lamppost and she must halt at the edge of the darkness, unable to follow. She might circle, waiting for you to make a run for it, or she might disappear back into the night. Will you chance a sprint to the next pool of light?

For those she catches, there is pain. There are rending claws that leave her mark, bleeding, on her victims–but the pain does not end in death. It ends in madness. You may descend into a state beyond thought, mind disappearing into a panicked fugue from which you will retain no memories. Or you may believe yourself to be still fighting off the creature of the night and legions like her, using your environment to protect yourself, to stave off attack.

Those unaffected will see what is truly happening: victims of the creature run rampant in frenzied efforts to bring more and more darkness to the nighttime city. Wild-eyed and unaware, they may start at something as simple as unscrewing a lightbulb, or engage in something as complex as cutting power to entire buildings. Regular citizens of Gloucester fall victim along with the people of ADI and sabotage runs rampant through the city, but it seems that above all else, ADI itself is the target of these attempts to turn out the lights. Panic begins to spread throughout the city as the attacks continue night after night.

➥ Mod Notes

ARRIVAL (March 1 - 31): Two people will always arrive in the same general location together. Arrivals occur throughout the early month, not all on the same day or in the same place. Arrivals are not naturally fluent in English/other languages immediately upon arrival. Characters may attempt to evade capture, but they will eventually be snagged before they can leave the building. PC's already in-game are more than welcome to interact with and try to guide new PC's to get them oriented. Please refer to the Arrival page for details regarding the arrival and onboarding process.
The Road We All Must Travel (March 1 - 31): The bodies found can be photographed, but they'll turn up blurred. There's nothing that can be gleaned about the bodies from a distance, only by moving close and touching them. The bodies can be anyone from any time and any place, even other worlds. Characters might even see non-human races represented. In every case, the body will disappear when touched and characters will pick up the final moments of the person's life. Players are welcome to make these final moments anything they want. The person could have died by mundane or supernatural means, but they will have died a painful or terrifying death in some way.
Prisoners of Consciousness (March 4 - 12): Episodes in which characters believe themselves to be imprisoned will occur exclusively on ADI property and in the Flophouse. The hallucinations may last for minutes or hours, though characters are likely to perceive time as though they were imprisoned much longer. Characters not affected by the hallucination may help pull others out of it by grounding them in reality, but it is also possible for them to be drawn into the hallucination themselves if they become frightened.
A Trick of the Dark (Nights of March 12 - 15) While people who have been caught by the apparition seem to focus their attacks on ADI property, the shadow woman herself never appears within ADI offices or apartments. She may sometimes appear in the Flophouse, and frequently appears outdoors, in darkened hallways of local businesses, and in the homes of locals. ADI housing curfew at 11:00 PM each night is still in effect; characters who stay out later may crash at HQ but will not be let into the apartments (they may also be able to get into the Flophouse…if its residents are kind enough to take them in). Characters caught by the shadow woman will experience confusion, terror, and compulsion to sabotage lighting, particularly in and around ADI property, until dawn of the next day. Characters who attempt to fight the shadow woman will find that she fights back (and that any scratch from her claws still causes the fugue state); if they manage to pin her down she will dissipate into shadows.
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"I've just moved here." Senku whispered back, because that was the idea behind cover and while he may not understand all the intricacies and politics yet, fortunately for her, he wasn't the type to pry.

"Apartment building, same direction, I think." He was quiet, watching.

"I don't think she likes the light so much. So if we plan a route under as much light as possible..."

"Okay... I-I'm Mercy, by the way. Sister Mercy Graves." Maybe introductions aren't necessary, but if she's going to be evading something dangerous with someone... she'd like to know she has a name for them. "Looks like the street lights go all the way down the street on this side, but they get patchy past that. I know there's plenty of light 'round where I'm going. It's just getting there."

"You can call me Senku. Senku Ishigami." He responded in kind, although it was just as well if she hadn't introduced herself, he probably wouldn't have asked. He had a tendency to forget those kinds of things. He didn't include any titles, although he had several.

"Seems like we might have a safe route that way. Can you run?"

He was a terrible runner, but his fitness had improved enough to go to space, surely he could sprint a little bit.

"I'm more for hiking a forest than out-running a bear..." Mercy takes a breath. "But sometimes there's a bear. This ain't the first odd thing I seen around these parts. Nor the first I've had to run from. Seems like running's the safest way about it, really. Sometimes there ain't no fighting what's in front of you."

Which has been a harder lesson to learn for some than others, she's noticed. That Manji man seems to think he can just stand up to whatever is in front of him and take it. Fool-headed thing that he is.

"On the count of three we make a break for those lights over there?"

"I'm not much of a fighter." Senku responded, shaking his head. He had a gun, sure, but it wasn't his first choice in any situation. He far preferred wordplay and negotiation.

"I've done more than enough hiking for a lifetime." He stretched a little bit. Ugh. He wasn't a runner either, but his fitness was finally up to a point that a short sprint would be fine.

"One." Senku supplied, turning his attention to that area.

Edited 2022-03-05 06:38 (UTC)

"Two." She gathers herself, grabs for her new companion. "Three!"

Mercy springs from the bush, holding onto Senku, as she can, while making a dash for the light. There's no sound but the pounding of feet and her own heart in her chest, but when they make it to the circle of light and she looks around, there the creature is, a silhouette of darkness.

"What do you want?"

Senku let her have his hand without complaint. It was really fortunate that after all that training, that he could keep up.

He glanced behind them at the figure.

"No time to ask, keep moving!"

It's the not knowing that's making it worse. Mercy's well aware of that. If they could just talk to this creature, understand what she wants, that would be one thing. Maybe it's just 'kill everyone,' but as it is, there are so many worse things it could want. It reminds her of the tentacle-armed things that had shown up a little while ago.

"Right." Mercy runs, getting them a good way down the block before the street light they'd been about to dash through cuts out. She pulls up short, trying to stop her companion with her. There's a deep, inky blackness between them and the next light that doesn't belong in a place like this where the stars and moon are shining above.

"Think we need a new strategy." Or at least modified one. Mercy's thoughts immediately turn toward splitting up. If she can draw the thing, maybe he can get to the next light.

He stumbled, although he took a step or two and he shuffled back into the light, looking around for an escape route. She was right, that wasn't going to work if the light was too far away.

Senku looked back at the creature? Shadow? Whatever it actually was...lingering there in the darkness like a huge threat.

"Fuck." He muttered, this time in Japanese despite the heavier inclination to speak English in this new place.

"Can we up our pace?" If they couldn't, what could they do against that thing?

"Maybe we can confuse her." Mercy lowers her voice and leans in toward the young man. "Harder to go after two folk at once, ain't it?" She has to hope it is. "You curve to the right, I'll go left. She'll only be able to follow one of us close enough to catch, and I'm thinking the split'll be enough to slow her down so's we can get there without getting caught."

She also plans to shout and make herself more of a target, but Mercy keeps that to herself for now.

That wasn't the worst idea, in the short term and if she was looking for the slower target it was probably him. An athlete, he was not, despite recent conditioning improvements.

Senku looked around, both to the right and the left.

"Alright." He agreed. "But make sure you veer towards the light and if we can circle this block and meet up at the end of it, that might be more ideal."

Was there a way to lose her? He didn't know enough about the being pursuing them to guess at that.

Mercy nods. "On the count of three. One. Two..." She braces herself. "Three!" The young woman takes off at a sprint, letting go of the young man's hand as she does so. And then she shouts.

"Oi, you billy-eyed butter bolete! Come at me! I ain't never been afraid of the dark, and you ain't no different!"

The shadowy figure does turn toward her, and when it moves, it's with alarming speed. Still, Mercy runs and hopes her new friend can get away.

Edited 2022-03-17 03:26 (UTC)

Most people would protest, someone trying to take the heat and getting targeted on purpose to save someone else.

Senku was not that person. It wasn't that he thought Mercy deserved to be sacrificed, they were completely on even footing in this situation, but rather he trusted her to have a plan even if she didn't tell him. She must have had one, right?

So. He stuck to the one they devised and bolted in the other direction, staying under the light and moving as fast as he could which was incredibly average. Senku turned the corner, just like he'd proposed and charted his route to the other side.

He found a safe beam of light to stand in with full view and waited. Come on Mercy, he thought, he believed he'd see her coming around the bend at any moment.

New year's resolution: get a lot better at sprinting. She's doing enough of it lately that it really would help. She doesn't look back to watch the shadow woman, just focuses on her breathing as she tries to ignore the burn starting up in her calves and thighs.

Senku is likely to hear her before sees her. Mercy's old-fashioned boots clomp louding across the pavement as she runs. He'll be able to see the shadow pursuing, reaching out-

And then she makes it to the light. Mercy skids to a stop and falls to her knees, panting hard. "Good-good job. Running. Yeah." Give her a minute, please. Maybe three.

Senku was a little winded, but he'd been training more recently than not so he was managing alright. It wasn't long enough to compare to the torture Nikki put him through.

He stepped in front of her easily enough, thinking, calculating.

"Didn't lose it." He grimaced. "Her. Whatever this is."

They could run and hope for the best or they could be more proactive. How did he either take a defensive or protective stance?

"Don't suppose you've got a lighter?"

"Got my..." Mercy fumbles in her pocket for a moment, pulling out a piece of flint attached to a metal wedge by some string. "Got this if you want a fire." That's what he means by lighter, right? For as long as she's been here, her mind still turns to conventions from her own world, and something as wondrous as a lighter remains far from her thoughts.

She does get up as she offers it to him. "Don't think setting her on fire'd work, though."

"Excellent." That would work just fine, for a good deal of time Senku was walking around with a bow drill, so this was a step up on that.

He looked around to see if he could find a branch or something along the side of the road.

"Even if that doesn't, it will give us light and maybe get us out of here safely."

She's still recovering a bit, but nods. "Ain't far to my apartments. They... don't usually let folk in there who ain't living in them, but I'm thinking this'll be a special occasion. You can come up with me, if you like. Got someone I'm living with, but I think she'd understand."

"Appreciate it." Senku found what he was looking for. It wasn't a terribly big stick, but it would hold out for a few minutes anyway.

He got the spark caught and offered her firestarter back.

"Give it a second and then we can run again." They probably wouldn't have long, but hopefully long enough to make a proper escape.

"Right." Mercy steels herself, eyes on the strange shadow woman. "You don't got no reason to be here," she tells her. "Just get home so we can get to ours." The shadow woman simply lurks at the edges of the light, seemingly moving back from even the flickering light of the stick as it catches.

"I'm ready," Mercy tells him. "Just up the street and on the right here. We'll be safe, soon as you like, sir." And with that, she readies herself to run with him.

"Got it." Senku confirmed and offered his hand.

Whether or not she took his hand they really only had a moment before it was time to run and he did, keeping the flame behind them so it would give them the most space possible.

With any luck, it wouldn't go out before they made it back to the apartment building because he definitely couldn't run forever.

She takes it and as soon as he's running, so is she. Mercy presses herself, counting the steps and not looking back, trying not to think about a long, shadowy arm reaching toward her as they dash away. Down the street and-

"Here!" Mercy practically throws herself at that gated entrance. The guard on duty... lets them in without comment. Maybe he's seen the thing chasing them? But Mercy's known them to be far more stringent about visitors. It's only once they're inside the grounds that Mercy looks around.

"She-she ain't followed us in, right?" It doesn't look like it. The apartment complex grounds are well lit, but there are still shadowy areas. Mercy doesn't see the woman there.

"Okay." Senku panted as he bent over to catch his breath and let go of her hand. He put the stick on cement and stomped on it to smoulder the flames.

"That's enough running for one day." He groaned, his lungs were burning a little bit. He hadn't done a moment of training in three years and that was probably showing.

"Don't see her." He agreed.

"Right, well... don't know rightly where you're meant to be staying, but you can come back to mine. We got a spare room we can have you stay in." She glances toward the gate. "Ain't like the guard to let folk who ain't supposed to be here in, but I ain't complaining none, Mr. Senku."

"I'd appreciate your help." Senku admitted, for the moment he'd accept her hospitality and sort things out in the morning.

shall we ftb here?

graveyounglady - 2022-05-02 02:20 (UTC) - Expand

Absolutely <3

10billionpercent - 2022-05-03 05:39 (UTC) - Expand

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TDM #9

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shall we ftb here?

Absolutely <3